Ohio State's Archie Griffin is surrounding by father James and mother Margaret and seven siblings after winning his second Heisman Trophy in 1975. / Submitted photo/The Ohio State University

Written by

Jon Spencer

CentralOhio.com

An Evening of College Football With Urban Meyer

• Where Villa Milano Banquet and Conference Center, 1630 Schrock Road, Columbus. • When Thursday. Silent auction at 5:30 p.m., followed by meet and greet at 6 p.m. and dinner program at 6:45 p.m. • Keynote speaker Meyer • Honored guest Craig Krenzel, quarterback of Ohio State’s 2002 national championship team. • Tickets $100 each; tables of 10 for $1,000 • Proceeds: Benefit Team Focus, a year-round program of support, encouragement and Godly values that foster the development of life skills in young men, ages 10 to 18, without a father figure in their lives. Crestline natives Mike and Mickey Gottfried founded the organization, based in Mobile, Ala. • Sponsorships (Gold, $10,000) Includes priority seating (tables of eight), meet and greet with Meyer and Krenzel, pictures with Meyer and Krenzel, footballs signed by Meyer and Krenzel for each person at all sponsorship tables, full page program ad and signage at event. (Silver, $5,000) Secondary seating (tables of eight), meet and greet with Meyer and Krenzel, pictures with Meyer and Krenzel, four footballs signed by Meyer and four footballs signed by Krenzel, half-page program ad and signage at event. • Tickets Call 614-895-2131 or 614-738-8108.

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COLUMBUS — If they awarded the Heisman Trophy for being the hardest worker, Ohio State immortal Archie Griffin probably would still own a pair and be grateful he didn’t have to compete against his father.

James W. Griffin Jr. worked three jobs to provide for his wife and eight children. He worked for Columbus City Sanitation, Ohio Malleable Steel Casting Co. and did janitorial work on the side.

He also was a full-time supporter of his kids’ athletic endeavors. That was anything but a job.

“One of the things I’ll always remember, and every time I say something about it it gets to me a little bit, his vacation would be to come watch us on Friday nights when we were in high school,” Archie said.

James Griffin would take one vacation day per week during the fall so he could be there for his seven sons, all of whom who went on to attend and graduate from college on football scholarships. The baby of the family, Krystal Griffin, parlayed a track scholarship into her diploma.

“It meant so much to me because I knew that every Friday night my dad was going to be in those stands even though he was supposed to be at work,” said Archie Griffin, who starred in high school for Columbus Eastmoor. “My father was certainly the biggest influence on me, mainly because of his work ethic.

“He’d get home from work at 1:30 in the morning and be back at work at 6 a.m. I’ve just never seen anybody work as hard as he would work.”

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer will address a banquet crowd Thursday in Columbus that will include young men ages 10 to 18 who weren’t lucky enough to have the kind of relationship Archie Griffin had with his dad.

“An Evening With Urban Meyer,” at the Villa Milano Banquet and Conference Center, is a fundraiser for Team Focus, an organization founded by Crestline natives Mike and Mickey Gottfried to mentor fatherless boys.

Archie Griffin had no shortage of male influences, from his dad to his older brothers to Eastmoor football coach Bob Stuart to iconic Ohio State coach Woody Hayes.

After Archie Griffin won his second Heisman, “Thanks Mrs. Griffin” bumper stickers could be seen on cars around central Ohio. Fans should have been thanking James Griffin, who in his own subtle way steered his son to the Buckeyes.

“I was leaning toward Northwestern and I remember my dad was taking me to the airport for my (recruiting) visit,” Archie Griffin said. “He just said: ‘You know, we’d like to be able to see you play.’

“He wasn’t telling me where to go to school, but I knew what that meant. I knew he wanted me to go to Ohio State. I knew if I stayed close it would give my mom and dad, the whole family, a better opportunity to see me play.”

At the time, two of his older brothers were playing at Louisville (Larry) and Kent State (Daryle). If both were playing at home, and one game was in the afternoon and the other at night, James and Margaret Griffin would drive to both.

“They might get to Louisville a little late, but they would be there,” Archie Griffin said. “That just told me it would be a lot easier on them if I stayed home.”

James Griffin was the son of a West Virginia coal miner. He also was an athlete, an honorable mention all-state football player as a 119-pound guard and featherweight boxer. After a stint in the service during World War II, he wound up in the coal mines. But the unstable nature of the business forced him to pack up his family and move to Columbus.

A couple years after their arrival, Archie Griffin was born at The Ohio State University Hospital on Aug. 21, 1954. You could say he was born to be a Buckeye.

But upon first meeting Woody, he wasn’t sure.

“I met him by myself at the Jai Alai Restaurant and I remember my father asking how my dinner went with him,” Archie Griffin said. “I told him: ‘I don’t think he really wants me to play football for him. All he really talked about was the importance of getting a good education. He didn’t say one thing to me about football.’ My father told me: ‘He’s probably more worried about you as a person, not just somebody who’s going to get out on the football field and score touchdowns for him.’

“And, in all honesty, I found that to be true.”

Another father figure was junior high counselor Oscar Gill.

“Mr. Gill taught me about the three Ds: desire, dedication and determination,” said Archie Griffin, still a prominent face at OSU as the school’s senior vice president for Alumni Relations and Alumni Association President/CEO. “When I add the three Ds up, I come up with total commitment. I try to totally commit myself to being the best I can be, whatever the situation is.”

Heisman voters deemed Archie Griffin the best college football player in the land in 1974 and ’75, making him the first and only two-time winner of the trophy.

“I put pressure on myself to win the second, probably too much,” Archie Griffin said. “I’ll never forget I was reading the Bible (Psalms 37:4) — ‘Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart’ — and it was like someone had lifted a weight off my shoulders and told me: ‘Hey Archie, you can’t spend your time worrying about winning the Heisman Trophy. You need to go out and serve the Lord the best way you can. If that happens, one of two things will happen. He’ll take away that desire to win the Heisman or he’ll give you the Heisman as a gift.’